Why do people fear God?

[Hamradioguy]

"I like President Bush because he's God fearing". So said a lady from Utah in a recent New York Times article on Bush's red state popularity. That struck me as an odd statement. I can think of a lot of presidential traits that might cause one to like a president: integrity, empathy, intelligence, charisma, negotiating skills....but fear of a mystical friend "up there" to whom you regularly talk? That sure wouldn't be on MY list.
Perhaps I don't understand because I'm not a believer. But even if there IS some kind of creator/supreme entity, why fear and not awe, respect or love? Fear of eventual judgement maybe? (My parents were certainly Godlike in my child's mind when I was very little, but even though the naughty things I occasionally did resulted in judgement and punishment I certainly didn't fear them.)

 

[JamesDillon]

Well, if there was a god, I'd be rather scared of It, too, in light of all the evidence which suggests that It is a sadistic bastard that delights in creating sentient life merely to watch it suffer.

 

[slingblade]

Sometimes it is said that "fear" more accurately means "respect" or "honor."

Except in the case of natural disaster. Then it's fear. Big Dude can't aim for chit.

 

[Tony]

Sometimes it is said that "fear" more accurately means "respect" or "honor."

I've heard that too, but it seems like BS because they still use the word "fear". If it was really about "respect" and "honor", they'd start using those words.

 

[Dark Jaguar]

What scares me isn't the idea of "god fearing" so much as the fact that, yes, they do take it to mean respect and honor, but they also take it to mean that that's how you get a subordinate to respect YOU. I know this from personal experience that SOME people at least see it that way. If you don't get the respect you think you deserve, earn it by making them realize you are to be respected because of the power you can exert.

This is basically a much milder form of what gang members think respect means.

So yes, there's much to be feared about anyone who professes a "healthy fear of god".

 

[slingblade]

I've heard that too, but it seems like BS because they still use the word "fear". If it was really about "respect" and "honor", they'd start using those words.

I agree.




(this means the world is coming to an end, you know. )

 

[Tony]

This is basically a much milder form of what gang members think respect means.

Or prison inmates for that matter.

 

[Dogdoctor]

I don't fear god cause he's my friend. Or else because he doesn't exist. One way or another there is no fear.

 

[empeake]

I think the reasoning is this:

If you are evil, God will punish you, now or in the hereafter.
Therefore, you are good because you fear God's punishment.
The person that fears God's punishment will do no evil, essentially being a good person.
Consequently, a "God-fearing person" is a good person who acts in accordance with the laws, rules, and precepts of God, afraid of being punished if he/she/it acts otherwise.

Personally, I believe the "no God, no morals" is nonsense, but for the vast majority of believers there would be no good or morality without God or, to be more precise, God's punishment. Control by fear, as it may be.

IMO, the expression "God-fearing person" just describes someone who suscribes to the same set of moral and ethical guidelines as oneself.

 

[Beady]

Machiavelli said something on the order of, "It's better for a leader to be feared than loved." I know that's not quite accurate, and I suspect it's slightly out of context, but the gist is accurate enough.

 

[Mojo]

So yes, there's much to be feared about anyone who professes a "healthy fear of god".

Especially if they're in a position of authority.

 

[clarsct]

God=Luck

When god is with you, that is to say you get lucky, then things are good.
When god is against you, that is to say you get unlucky, then life is bad.
People fear the odds turning against them. This anthropomorphistic representation of luck is god. It gives luck a face, and the superstition that the odds give a damn, when, in fact, they clinically do not.

God is Luck.

 

[KingMerv00]

"I don't believe in God, but I'm afraid of him."

---Kevin Spacey in "The Usual Suspects"

I tend to agree. I don't believe in God but he seems to have an awful lot of influence over people with nuclear launch capability.

 

[Trantor]

Especially if they're in a position of authority.

Yes, I too agree. It's no different than the behavior expressed by animals in nature. The Alpha Male sets the tone by being feared by the rest of the group. In the animal world Respect=Fear. Since we too are animals; it is the same for us. When motivating a group toward a goal, the leader must first make it clear that he/she means business. After he/she establishes the fact that they will crack heads if needed; the group will then fall in line and "respect" for the leader will be established after the leader proves his/her leadership skills. Any person attempting to be "Mr. Nice Guy" from the begining, without first establishing that tone of fear, is doomed to fail. The group would consider this a weak leader and moving the group toward a common goal becomes very difficult. Not to mention the fact that the group would likely set up a challenge and try to replace their "weak" leader.

Since God is the Supreme Alpha Male, to fear God is only natural.

 

[ceo_esq]

I've heard that too, but it seems like BS because they still use the word "fear". If it was really about "respect" and "honor", they'd start using those words.

OED has a special definition of fear as "A mingled feeling of dread and reverence towards God (formerly also, towards any rightful authority)." Of course, one definition of dread is " deep awe or reverence". The old Catholic Encyclopedia describes fear generally as "an unsettlement of soul consequent upon the apprehension of some present or future danger," and makes clear that the fear of God is a "fear in which the element of reverence is uppermost (metus reverensalis)".

So in the expressions "God-fearing", "fear of the Lord", etc., we are talking simply about the natural feeling one properly feels toward a rightful authority, multiplied as a consequence of the station attributed to God by believers. It derives from a term that was also used to describe filial respect of parental authority, for example. This is a usage of the word "fear" which is very old, and which really only survives in the aforementioned expressions with respect to God. I think the reason why the term continues to be used in this context, even though it doesn't correspond to what most people think of as "fear" these days, is simply tradition.

 

[Tricky]

It is natural, and perhaps even adaptive, to fear the unknown. God is unknown.

 

[Genesius]

Why do people fear God?

Look at what He let happen to Job! If that's the way He treats His most faithful follower, then the average believer has got plenty to fear.

 

[c4ts]

Have you read the OT lately? God is a psychotic bastard. He's like that in Revelations, too.

 

[Nova Land]

Perhaps I don't understand because I'm not a believer. But even if there IS some kind of creator/supreme entity, why fear and not awe, respect or love?

I'm a believer in god, but I don't fear god so I'm not in a good position to explain what the term means.

I'll be attending Quaker meeting this Sunday and can ask people if they consider themselves "god-fearing" and if so (a) what they mean by fearing god, and (b) why they have this fear of god. Off-hand, I can't think of anyone I know who uses the term to describe themselves. (I'm sure there are people who do use it -- just not in the circles I generally orbit.)

 

[Nova Land]

edited to add: I wrote this post earlier today, while off-line, after browsing through this thread earlier today. I came back to make a few posts, but I see that in the meantime ceo_esq has already said much of what I wanted to say. Oh, well -- there are too many words lying around idle and getting themselves into all sorts of mischief, so I'm going to post this now anyway.

Sometimes it is said that "fear" more accurately means "respect" or "honor.

I've heard that too, but it seems like BS because they still use the word "fear". If it was really about "respect" and "honor", they'd start using those words.

I'm not sure about that. People often use a word without thinking too much about it simply because it's the term they've heard other people using.

And even when we do think about the words we're using, and realize one of them doesn't actually say what we are intending to say, we often continue to use it rather than substitute in a different word simply because it's easier. If we introduce a new term when everyone else is using the old one, we either need to (a) explain why we're introducing a new term -- meaning that instead of being able to make a short, natural-sounding comment we need to add on a long, distracting explanation of why we're not making a short, natural-sounding comment; or (b) just drop the new term in, making people wonder what it is we're trying to say and why we had to go all hoity-toity with some new and probably PC term... All in all, it's generally easier to speak in the familiar language of the people around us.

"White" and "Black" (in relation to discussions of race) are good examples. Most of us realize that people aren't really black or white. Apart from my eyeballs and teeth, there's very little white about me. And yet most of us do generally use those terms -- or whatever terms the people we are talking with feel most comfortable -- rather than attempting to use and get others to use more accurate descriptors.